Ford to close up shop in Australia?

[TonyJZX]

what i dont get is why American Fords are so cool and yet... they couldnt get any of that love here?

they're actually running extra shifts to push out yankee fords

[9triton]

oh no - parts for my 1961 ford falcons will be unavailable .

brb -gonna blockade broadmeadows until they see the light

sigh , falcon 50th 2010

[Southo]

News conference audio..

http://www.motorsportfotos.com/PF/Ford.mp3

[Reax]

[Mr_Meaner]

[Fatboy]

Say it isn't so
I'm a Holden guy as you all know, but this makes me very sad - kind of a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach actually.

Yeah, it's a shame - especially for any of us that grew up in the "Holden v Ford" era. I was a Brocky fan from as young as i can remember, briefly switched to Ford when Dick Johnson ran the XD and my old man bought a new XD Fairmont Ghia, then went back to Holden after a brief love affair with the Moffat RX-7's...

I've only ever bought Fords to make money (a few from the auctions), never as a daily. But the FG series are the something i've always wanted to try - kinda regret not trading my SS on a XR6T now just to try out the enemy...

People on FB ranting about how its the goverment's fault. It isnt. It is our fault, the consumer. We voted with our wallets.

This. Times about a million...

[MZ21]

So who's thinking about getting a 2016 F6 or GT?

[Billzilla]

So who's thinking about getting a 2016 F6 or GT?

They'll rust quickly, from the dampness of the tears of the crew putting them together on the line.

[GTREA]

So who's thinking about getting a 2016 F6 or GT?

No, not at all but I would like an LSA HSV!

The worlds a rapidly changing place atm, especially in the automotive industry, this was always going to happen.....it wont be long before many more manufacturers actually drop off or amalgamate with others, kinda like the commercial Aero industry where you basically have 2 major players Boeing and Airbus.

Sad, get real, move on.

[teamtoken]

I hope they go out with a bang, something like a 400kw F6 with carbon fibre panels and all the weight saving treatment, proper winged recaro's and ohlins 4 way adjustable dampers. Or a 460kw GT just to one up hsv's new thing on the way out or something. Don't those miami engines make heaps effortless HP?

[cheapracer]

People on FB ranting about how its the goverment's fault. It isnt. It is our fault, the consumer. We voted with our wallets.

Bullshit, you bought a product that suited you which Ford couldn't offer, it is squarely their fault.

The cunts that take on top management are useless overpaid morons who can't read or steer a market and will merely move either to offshore positions with Ford International or eqivilent positions in other companies never having to answer for their failures with Ford Australia.

Suggested reading;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iacocca:_An_Autobiography

I hope they go out with a bang, something like a 400kw F6 with carbon fibre panels and all the weight saving treatment, proper winged recaro's and ohlins 4 way adjustable dampers.

Yeah well done Mate, that's the sort of non-market relevant thinking that has fucked Holden and Ford.

[I'm DJ!]

Fuck.

Blame? #1 us for letting it happen, #2 weak as piss political class #3 Union heathen nest feathering imbecile cunts thinking unskilled labourers on a product line must earn $100k when all other local labourers are making $40k #4 dear born for exploiting #1-3 above.

Stupid cunts all of them.

Unless;

It's time for ford to shake the tree and see how much cash they will be thrown for saying they're going...

[irsa76]

Ford America fundamentally sealed the fate of the Falcon and thus Ford Aus by not wanting to pay to get the FG suitable for America.

Say what you want, it is a shame. The FG is a brilliant car for the money you spend. Ecoboost sales have been dismal, normal sales are their worst in years. We dont buy them for fleet anymore (camry is cheaper to buy, run, insure and resells for more)

People on FB ranting about how its the goverment's fault. It isnt. It is our fault, the consumer. We voted with our wallets.

Ford US isn't stupid, they weren't in a position to waste money on the LHD Falcon program when the projected volumes were so small. You only have to look at the sales of the GTO, G8 and especially the Caprice PPV to realise NOT running with the program made sense. The fact is for every 100 internet "I'd love one" you'd be lucky to see 1 person actually putting their money down, here and the US. Arguments that the Falcon would replace the Panther, Crown Victoria/Marquis/Towncar are misguided. Ford only kept that platform running because there was still enough demand from Taxi, livery service(limo) and police for heavy body on frame sedans to justify throwing a new grille on the same body that dated from 1992! Iirc the last year of production were all fleet only cars, word is more Crown Vics were bought by the CHP then were sold to retail customers in the US, less then 2000, in the last couple of years. The Falcon would have had the added handicaps of being a "weak" unibody AND an import in a market segment where buy American is the second thing after the badge, as the Caprice has found when it's excluded from large contracts due to being an import.

No, LCT isn't protecting anything, it's soleley a tax cash-cow.


Pretty-much only the LCT these days, prices are pretty-much the same here on non-lux cars (apart from insane markets like USA & Japan).


"Death of Falcon" yes, "Death of Ford Aus" no.
That decision was more Dearborn than Australian buyers (or gumnbyment).
Holden seem to manage to make a car that people buy; as do Toyota.

Again, Ford US aren't stupid, why spend money duplicating programs when they don't have too? In Ford AU's case THEY should have read the market much better and taken advantage of the products from OS.

I wonder if this means there will be ingress of American vehicles arriving to our shores, if so I could deal with F series trucks and Mustangs.

Unless the Government suddenly decides to let LHD cars in, no chance in hell. And going on past experience with US models, even if they did come here no one would buy them once they realise how crap they really are compared to the Euros.

Speaking to a cabbie the other week, and ever since Ford dropping the wagon he's not sure on what to get next.
Camry is ok, but doesnt have the boot space so they arnt too great for the airport runs or to even carry a wheelchair.

Starting to see a few Skoda Superbs on taxi work. And Citroen is apparently looking at getting back into the taxi market, apparently using the commercial version of the upcoming Picasso, good luck. There's also mob looking at bringing over the London "black cab", can't remember who it is off the top of my head.

What makes you think we will get a US market car? They could quite easily say that Mondeo will suffice for Australia and ship them from Europe. There is no requirement to have a Taurus like car for this market.

Mondeo is more then enough really, the Taurus is more like the halo car now, especially the SHO.

what i dont get is why American Fords are so cool and yet... they couldnt get any of that love here?

they're actually running extra shifts to push out yankee fords

I want a Ford Flex, nfi why but the 3.5 ecoboost awd would be great.

[Sloth]

i expect holden to go the same by 2020. arnt they goign to be making commos in africa soon?

[Cplus]

This. They have to keep stock of parts for 10 years after a model has ceased production.

Mitsubishi still occupy about 50m of what was a 300m long shed out at Tonsley still, full of parts and panels Every year another bay gets knocked down, 2-3 to go.

Their engineering team is still going. My mate used to work on 380's know it is tritons. They pretty much have to go through the catalogue from Japan's range and all the options available and decide what limited range we should get. Ie: which single trim of the 8 you can pick in Japan we should get.

They said that, but it won't be long before they officially announce the R&D centre moves to India or China where they don't have to pay gingerneers $70-80k.

70-80k that's 3yr grad money.